"I left Portugal without knowing half of what I know today. It is experience that gives us knowledge. I left here at 47 years old and discovered a completely new world. With different realities and ways of seeing life, you need to have the ability to adapt, immediately understand the context and always be aware of everything," said the coach.

Rui Vitória participated in a conference organized by Universidade Lusófona, on the theme "The importance of academia in the training and success of football coaches in Portugal", alongside Nelo Vingada and Mónica Jorge, also sharing some concrete examples of experiences with the Arabs of Al Nassr, at the time of Ramadan, with the Russians of Spartak Moscow, with very negative temperatures, and in the varied culture of Egypt.

"Currently, the coach has to make decisions with a tremendous impact on the financial part of an institution and has to master a series of areas, hence the importance of having a quality technical team. We have to lead players, the technical team, medical department, communication, logistics, etc., and also the administration, which is sometimes the most complicated. Dealing with all these aspects is not easy. You have to have this art of management and surround yourself well," pointed out the 54-year-old Ribatejo coach.

The management of egos in a locker room was also a topic debated in the session, in which Rui Vitória considered that a high-level footballer "is a company" and it is crucial to have the ability to "meet the needs of each player", explaining that he usually asks for "an exhaustive report" with all the personal aspects of each athlete in the club.

"Understanding the characteristics of a player is crucial. I immediately ask for an exhaustive report on each player. If he is very young and already has a top-of-the-range car, if he is 23 years old and already has two children, who has already divorced a number of times... I like to know all this information to understand what kind of person I have in front of me. We should not treat everyone equally, we should have the same decisions for the whole group. There is no problem in treating players differently," he also stressed.

At the end of the conference, when asked to comment on current football events, Rui Vitória said he was convinced that, despite only believing when it is mathematical, Sporting will lift the champion's trophy, highlighting the competitiveness at the bottom of the table.

"We do not have the fight that, perhaps, we would like now in this final phase, with more teams able to compete for the title, but it is an interesting championship, with the bottom of the table being a fight until the end. This year I have seen teams playing good football for a certain period and then passing the baton to others, not maintaining consistency, with Sporting always maintaining a strong quality and great consistency," he stressed.

Currently unemployed, after his spell with the Egyptian national team, which ended with elimination in the round of 16 of the last edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN), the coach confessed that he was enjoying this break, although he admits to some conversations.

"It is a reality to be coaching abroad now and I am convinced that it can happen again with great possibility. There have been conversations, but, at this time, it has to do fundamentally with feeling that I want to go with what they offer me. There has to be a combination between what I hear and what I want at the moment," he highlighted.

With a coaching career that began at Vilafranquense, in 2002/03, Rui Vitória went through Fátima, Paços de Ferreira, Vitória de Guimarães and Benfica before heading to other countries, at Al Nassr (Saudi Arabia), Spartak Moscow (Russia) and the Egypt national team.

With Benfica, he won two championships (2015/16 and 2016/17), two Cândido de Oliveira Super Cups (2016 and 2017), a Portuguese Cup (2016/17) and a League Cup (2015/16), also having another 'queen' competition on his resume, with Vitória de Guimarães (2012/13), and a Saudi Arabian championship and a Saudi Super Cup.

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